IHS Markit, 2021
From 2002 to 2020, the average age of a passenger car
on the road went from 9.6 years to 12.1 years.
Long before new vehicle inventory shortages, the average age of vehicles on the road was growing older.
But as ongoing shortages spur some customers to hold onto their vehicles even longer, retooling your dealership's
service department to better support your sales, acquisition and retention efforts can make a critical difference in
your dealership's bottom line.
In this whitepaper, we'll explore how dealers can maximize their service revenue and operations including:
• How to drive sales through the service drive
• How to support inventory acquisition efforts
• How the service drive supports customer retention
HOW TO DRIVE SALES THROUGH THE SERVICE DRIVE
The first step to maximizing your service drive is connecting the dots between your
service department and the rest of your dealership in an efficient, effective way.
Your process needs buy-in from service, sales and F&I to ensure your efforts are
consistent and collaborative. This is not only crucial to your service conquest
and service-to-sales processes, but it also supports pre-owned acquisitions and
customer retention strategies through the service drive.
Ask yourself: Would your team know if there was a great sales prospect in the
service drive?
How? What's their process for finding out? Would they know what to say to them
or what a good offer looks like for them? Breaking down the barriers between
departments means everyone is working off of the same nformation. What tools
are you providing your team to increase their knowledge and understanding of
your service customers and where they are in their customer journey?
Utilizing behavior prediction technology that integrates with your dealership's
CRM, DMS, service and inventory data ensures your team is regularly mining
your upcoming service appointments to identify additional sales and revenue
opportunities. Task your team to proactively engage prospective sales leads ahead
of their appointment and craft personalized sales offers to these service customers.
This includes those driving vehicles out of warranty or over their lease mileage.
WORKING THE DRIVE 101:
How to Maximize Service Revenue
NADA, 2021
After a dip to
just $51.9b
total revenue in
2020, service
department
sales once again
soared in 2021,
reaching $60.4B
by June 2021.
